Tying device.



G. H. BtAKENEYr WING DEVlCE.

APPHCATIQH FILED APR. 5. l9l6.

Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

GEORGE E. BLAKENEY, OF BINGI-IAM'ION, TENNESSEE. v

TYING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

Application filed April 5, 1916. Serial No. 89,148.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. BLAKENEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Binghamton, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tying Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a tying device which may be advantageously used to secure a package of letters in compact form without the necessity of knotting the ends of the flexible tying element used for this purpose.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a tying device having a portion thereof formed from a strip of resilient material cut away between its ends and upon opposite sides to provide a body having at its opposite end flanges co-acting with the sides of the body to provide gripping jaws for receiving portions of the flexible tying element connected with the body and adapted to be wound around the articles to be secured in compact form.

Another object of the invention is to so form the portion of the tying device which is stamped from resilient material that the flanges at opposite ends of the body which co-act with the sides thereof in providing the gripping jaws may be slightly rolled to guide portions of the flexible tying element connected with the body between the gripping jaws when said flexible element is being wound about the package.

Another object of the invention is to arrange the gripping jaws at opposite ends of the body in such a manner that when portions of the flexible tying element is gripped by the jaws any tendency of the articles to move laterally upon each other about which the flexible tying element is wound will cause the jaws to more firmly grip the flexible tying element.

A still further object of the invention is to provide that portion of the device which is formed from resilient material with retaining fingers so arranged that they receive and hold a portion of the flexible tying element included in the device when the same is being wound around the package thus preventing the metallic portion of the device from chafing or turning on a package during the tying operation.

With these and other objects in view the invention resides in the novel combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing, although no restriction is necessarily made to the precise details of construction therein shown, as changes, alterations, and modifications Within the scope of the claim may be resorted to when so desired.

Like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawing, in which Figure l is a top plan view of the package of mail matter secured in compact form by means of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 38 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line l l of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the tying device.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the blank from which a portion of the tying device is stamped.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the numeral 1 designates a package of letters secured in compact form by means of the improved tying device as indicated by the numeral 3 and which comprises a plate 4 having connected therewith a flexible tying element 5.

The plate a is preferably stamped from of a portion a strip of resilient material of rectangular.

shape as indicated by the numeral 6 in Fig. 6 of the drawing, said strip being slitted and cut away between its ends and upon opposite sides to provide a substantially diamond shaped body 7, having enlargements 8 and 9 at its respective ends with the slits which co-act with the cut away portions in providing the converging side walls of the body extending within said enlargements to provide at each end of the body and the opposite sides thereof flanges 10, said flanges being rolled upwardly to provide. gripping jaws 11 and to guide portions of the flexible tying element 5 within said jaws when the tying element is wound about a package.

The body 7 is provided with a U-shaped slit 13 between its ends and the material bound by the slit bent upwardly to provide a retaining finger 14 substantially in alinement with a line drawn longitudinally through the plate a. The enlargement 9 is also slitted at one end thereof to provide a retaining finger 15 similar to the retaining finger 14 on the body 7 The body 7 has formed therein in alinement with the finger 15 an opening 16 within which one end of the flexible tying element 5 may be secured in any suitable manner.

When it is desired to secure a package of letters as shown in the drawing by means of the improved tying device, the plate 4 is laid upon the top of the package and the flexible tying element 5 carried over one side of and beneath the bottom of the pack age, up the other side, and across the top to the retaining finger 15. The flexible tying element is now engaged with the finger 15 and extended longitudinally of the body 7 to engage with the retaining finger 18 at the end of the enlargement 9. The tying element is now wound longitudinally around the package until a portion thereof contacts with one of the flanges 10 at the opposite end of the body 7 the eonvexed under side of said flange eo-aeting with the opposed diverging side wall of the body to direct the flexil le element within one of the grip ping aws 11. The flexible element is now arranged with the adjacent gripping jaw and again passed beneath the package and engaged with a gripping jaw at the opposite end of the body. 7

From the above described arrangement of winding the flexible element around the body and arranging the same within the gripping jaws of the plate 4:, it will be seen that loops are formed within the flexible element in which are received the enlargements at opposite ends of the body so that any tendency of the articles about which the flexible tying element is wound to shift causes the flexible tying element to be more firmly gripped by the gripping jaws and that the strain of the tying element upon the plate a, is equally distributed at each end and between the ends of the plate, so that any tendency of the plate to turn or Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the shift under said strain is obviated thereby preventing the casual displacement of the flexible tying element from the gripping aws.

By providing the body of the plate 4: at one end thereof with the retaining fingers for receiving a portion of the tying element while the same is being Wound about the package to be secured, the plate is held from turning movement, so that the side edges of the body can co-act with the convexed side of the flanges 10 in guiding the flexible ele-' ment into engagement with the gripping jaws, Said flanges also enable the opposed portions of the flexible tying element to be brought into close relation beneath the enlarged ends of the plate and to protect the underlying surfaces from coming in contact with said plate.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing it is at once apparent that a tying device has been provided which is simple in construction therefore inexpensive of manufacture yet highly efficient in use.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is A package tie comprising a plate apertur'ed on its transverse center line adjacent one edge for the engagement of one end of a string, each longitudinal edge of said plate being provided with a pair of slots extending from the ends of the transverse center in an inclined direction toward the longitudinal center line, the edges of each of said slots converging, the portions of said plate between the ends thereof and the adjacent edges of said slots being bent upwardly, a lug extending upwardly from said plate at substantially its center, and an upwardly then downwardly bent lug at oneend of said plate.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE H. BLAKENEY.

Witnesses G120. H. BLAKENEY, Jr., G. L. BOYD.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

